


Only 10 minutes

by LetsHaikyuu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, I like sad, it good sad tho, it's sad okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25205371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetsHaikyuu/pseuds/LetsHaikyuu
Summary: Synopsis: when you get a call one afternoon from an unknown number, you decide to answer it; what story lies behind it was beyond your imagination; astronaut! Oikawa TooruWord count: 2k
Relationships: Oikawa Tooru/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	Only 10 minutes

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an episode of 911: Lone Star <3

“Hello?”

The line on the other side kept cutting off, unstable and breaking, making it hard to hear the voice on the other end. It wasn’t until a few seconds later, the line seemed to find its way to a stable connection, that you heard a very loud voice on the other side.

“Mom!? Mom is that you!?” As if it found its perfect position, the line suddenly stabilized. With no more breaks in the line, you could hear the voice perfectly; the voice on the other end completely unfamiliar to you and you would be lying if you said that you weren’t feeling anxious, scared almost, by the fear and panic in the male’s voice, yelling at you through the phone’s speaker.

“I-I’m not your mom,” you looked around your empty apartment, but no one was around while you were lazing on the couch, your favorite TV show playing and a refreshing drink on the table, “I’m hanging up no-“

“NO, WAIT! PLEASE DON’T HANG UP!”

You gulped at the needy tone. The male was certainly frightened, maybe in need of some help, guidance, medical care, but who were you to provide him with any of that. You weren’t supposed to answer the phone in the first place. “Sir, if you were calling 911, you’ve dialed the wrong number-“

“I hoped you were my mother.” Have you not been speaking softly, you would’ve missed it. The loud, booming voice now turned into something so fragile, glass-like; it edged on some kind of sympathy, yet, you felt nervous. “Nobody’s answering the damn phone. Now!? Now when I need them the most, they’re not fucking answering!?”

“Sir, please calm down,” you could clearly notice the fear in your own voice, but tried to mask it by faking a cough, “if you hang up, maybe you’ll get them to answer.”

“Please...” Eyes widening at the obvious cry, you stayed silent for a few seconds, letting the man cry and try to calm down. “I-I’m dying...and no one is answering my calls...”

That definitely didn’t sit right. “Dying!? Sir, you need medical attention then!” But, he only chuckled, sniffles being the only answer on the other end.

“If there’s someone who knows how to treat exposure to radiation 500km above Earth, I’ll gladly take their help.” It was at this point that most would figure out they’re being messed around with, but, he sounded too sincere, too honest and scared to be lying about something like that. “I’m Oikawa Tooru, astronaut sent on a mission from the ISS and currently floating almost 500km above Earth. Nice to meet you stranger.”

“Wait...you’re really calling from a space station!?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, aren’t I?”

“B-but..,” you tried to comprehend this new onslaught of weird and rare information, but this conversation began becoming weirder and weirder, “how are you talking to me, then?”

In the distance, you could hear faint typing, as if he were typing on a keyboard and moving around every few seconds. “I’d love to give you all the technical information, but I’m kind of dying, so spare me that part, will you?”

You were shocked at how nonchalant he was acting. He was dying, but the voice from the beginning of the conversation, with the fire and will to survive, screaming out for his mother, seemed to distinguish into nothing but mere realization and acceptance that death was upon him.

“What’s your name, stranger?”

“Y/N...”

You look at the TV, shutting it off so you could hear him better, his voice too weak to be heard above the blaring noise of the TV. “Only 10 minutes left,” you could hear him whisper out softly, his voice hoarse and cracking.

“Why didn’t you call your family?” Talking to someone minutes before their passing was not something you’d call a dream afternoon, but you would never forgive yourself if you cut him off now and slam the phone down, so you kept talking to him.

“I did, but my parents are at work and my sister isn’t answering either. My best friend...he too isn’t answering..,” he voiced out, his furious typing dragging your – and ultimately his – attention away from what was really happening. It felt like a quick break from reality. “So, I’m begging you,” you held your breath as you awaited his next words, “please don’t let me die alone.”

* * *

“Let’s play 20 questions!”

Oikawa’s voice became hoarser as he kept talking to the stranger on the phone. He could feel his chest tighten and lungs beg for pure oxygen, but Oikawa knew he wasn’t getting any. His fellow partner, who was with him at the space station, laid dead beside him, the effects of the radiation killing him long before Oikawa could even realize.

He was left alone, with only a stranger’s voice on the other end, talking to him and reminding him that there’s someone who he can talk to mere minutes before death. “I probably have...6 minutes left,” he thought to himself as he moved from each side of the space shuttle, his fingers quickly typing as he put in the last piece of information into the computers. Hopefully, when they find them someday, they’ll be able to see what went wrong and prevent this from ever happening again. Unfortunately, Oikawa had to be the test subject for this.

“20 questions? Oikawa, you do know you have a few minutes left, right?” Your worried voice sounded in his ear and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “I just want to know the person I’ll be talking to last a bit more, is that a crime?”

He could hear you let out a small chuckle in return and he smiled. He wanted to keep the atmosphere as light-hearted as possible, even though the clock kept ticking and seconds went by, it seems, faster than usual. He didn’t have much time left, so why waste it on crying?

“Tell me a little bit about yourself. You know, favorite color, animal and all that.”

Oikawa kept typing, but listened intently on what you were saying. To many, it were random things and it didn’t make sense to ask about them, but Oikawa knew what he was doing. Your voice soft, but even though you tried to hide it, there was an evident stutter once in a while and a sharp intake of breath. You’d stop every few seconds to see if he was still breathing, so Oikawa kept humming in reply.

His words became heavy, breathing weaker as his lungs began to die on him. “3 more minutes left...” He whispers out, more to himself than the person he’s talking to. Typing down the last piece of information he finds important to be written down, Oikawa moves to the center of the space shuttle and waits.

He lies down, eyes staring at the ceiling as his body floats aimlessly around the shuttle. His partner long gone in front of him. He closes his eyes, pictures of him and his closest friends and family start flashing before his eyes. So, this is how death looks like, he thought as he wished to hear them one last time before he passes. But, Oikawa knew that some wishes were never made to be fulfilled. It so happens that his greatest wish will be just a long forgotten memory.

However, there’s you, still on the phone with him. You’re still talking, stopping every once in a while to hear his breathing, but instead, you’d only get violent coughing in return. He could hear you sniffling, soft cries being held back by a hand covering your mouth. Oikawa couldn’t imagine how you felt, having to hear someone die with you by their side. He will be forever grateful to you, for sticking by his side while he experienced his last few minutes on Earth. Technically above Earth, but Oikawa didn’t want to go into the technical details.

He looked one last time out the shuttle window, beautiful Earth in front of him. He was so close to it, in the lower layers of the atmosphere, yet, so far to go back and live life. He always wanted to be an astronaut and he’d rather die than give up on his wildest dreams. And, die he will. “1 minute left, huh...”

“Y/N...listen,” he tried to talk through the coughing but had to stop numerous times, unable to finish the sentence. “T-Tell me how you look like...”

“How I look like? Oikawa, are you sur-“

“I want to picture you before I die. You’re the last person I’ll ever talk to.”

His body shook tremendously from the violent coughing, breathing becoming unstable and finding it hard to voice out any words. His throat almost closed, restricting him of any normal functioning, but, with one last breath, he managed to murmur out:

“Call me Tooru, please, call me Tooru.”

* * *

You were talking through your tears, stumbling over your words as you try to describe yourself in the quickest way possible, so that Oikawa knew who he had been talking to moments before death. He became awfully silent, his quiet humming becoming more and more distant until you couldn’t hear it anymore.

“A-And I have this scar f-from when I-I...” You stopped, wishing to hear him chuckle at your story, his soft laughter picking at your every heart string every time he let it out. From the way he sounded and acted, Oikawa was truly something else.

“T-Tooru? T-Tooru, are you there?” You yelled out frantically, seconds as silent as the dead ticked by with no noise coming from the other side. Just your voice, all by itself, echoing through the space shuttle.

“Tooru!? Oh God, Tooru...please...please no...” The phone slipped from your shaking hand and you let it fall. There was no use in talking anymore when everything was finally over. As violent sobs racked your body, you try to look at the clock through teary eyes. It had only been ten minutes. Ten minutes of you talking to someone you’ve never met. To family and friends talking to each other, ten minutes meant nothing but a part of a longer duration. But, to Oikawa, a son, an uncle, a friend, it meant everything. It meant only 10 minutes of breathing, thinking, and feeling. And then, after those 10 minutes, everything would be gone, like ne never once existed. And to you? To you, those minutes would never go away. They will be forever edged in your brain. The noise of him hardly breathing, talking and telling you how much he appreciates you talking to him. To Oikawa, those 10 minutes had already passed, but to you, those 10 minutes will still be there to haunt you.

* * *

_‘Breaking news:_

_ISS has reported the death of two astronauts from their newest mission. The astronauts have been exposed to radiation, their space shuttle still roaming the lower layers of Earth, providing them no protection from the radiation. The ISS express its deepest condolences to the victims’ families.’_

It was the day after. Your eyes completely dry from the onslaught of tears yesterday. You looked up at the screen and saw the face you had been talking to. Oikawa Tooru. His handsome face was plastered on your TV, a wide grin on his face as he smiled to the camera.

You didn’t know what made you cry more. His curly brown hair softly falling and framing his face, his deep brown eyes that seemed to grab you in and never let you go or was it something else that couldn’t be seen on screen.

“He had a heart of gold,” you whispered out, more to remind yourself that he will truly be remembered as someone who was pure and kindhearted, a hero who died trying to find out more about the Earth and living his wildest dreams.

To many, that day could have been filled with happiness, sorrow or grief. But, nobody will know knew about the death of two astronauts, far away from Earth. Their sacrifice would only be known a few days later, when the ISS releases its official statement. But, nobody will know about your conversation with him, his last 10 minutes. It was something you’d cherish deeply until death knocked on your door as well; and, maybe, you will finally able to meet the one that stole your heart – in only ten minutes.

_‘ISS also reports that one of the astronauts, Oikawa Tooru, had been found with a smile on his face.’_


End file.
